Pasta Imperfect - By Maddy Hunter Page 0,18

was going to happen. Boy, I could expect to catch an earful about this.

I ran to the bathroom and yanked open the folding vinyl door. EH! It was the size of a gym locker. There was no shower curtain. No mirrored medicine cabinet. Just a showerhead poked into the wall, an evil-looking drain in the middle of the floor, and a toilet and sink squushed against each other. Back home I used the bathroom; here, I'd be wearing it.

This wasn't good. This wasn't good at all. We had people the size of sumo wrestlers on the tour. What if they stepped inside the room to take a shower and got wedged between the walls? I raced for the medication sack inside my suitcase to see if I'd remembered to pack a large economy jar of petroleum jelly.

I heard a soft tap tap tap at the door. I froze. Oh, Lord, please make it a mindless complaint and not anyone who'll be using the words "Dick Teig," "shower," and "naked" in the same sentence. "Coming," I said, my heart in my mouth as I opened the door.

I expelled a relieved breath as I regarded the Severid twins standing arm in arm in the corridor. Oh, thank God. Britha and Barbro would never allow Dick Teig inside their room, especially if he were naked. They'd probably never seen a naked man in their lives. The twins were seventy-three years old, had never married, and still lived together in the same house they'd grown up in on the outskirts of Windsor City. They were purebred Norwegian with porcelain complexions, Wedgwood blue eyes, birdlike frames that made them look fragile as glass, and fluffy white hair that reminded me of the cotton candy we bought at the state fair. They were as identical as a couple of Keebler cookies, their only distinguishing feature being the different names pinned to their bib jumpers.

"We're sorry to bother you, Emily, dear," Britha apologized. Britha, who boasted of being the older sibling by ten minutes, had been head librarian at the local library for decades and still volunteered her services on a regular basis, maintaining the card catalogue and drilling other volunteers, like my mom, on the sanctity of the Dewey decimal system. "Would this be a good time for us to select a few articles of clothing?"

"Excuse me?"

"Your mother mentioned you'd brought way too many clothes with you, so you'd be happy to share."

I pondered that for a millisecond. "SHE SAID WHAT?"

Barbro's eyes widened with fright. "She said you'd packed so darn much stuff, there's no way you'd not have enough. But if that's not right, give us the scoop. We'll leave you here and fly the coop."

I stared at Barbro, stupefied. She'd been writing greeting card sentiments for so long that her brain no longer functioned normally. The upshot was, she couldn't just talk anymore. She had to talk in rhyme. It was really weird. "I'm sorry, ladies." I wrenched my gaze away from Barbro. "Would you run the part about my mother by me again?"

Britha happily obliged. "Margaret said you were so delighted to have your luggage back that she was sure you felt a moral obligation to distribute a few items of clothing to the poor unfortunates among us who lost everything in the fire." Her gaze drifted past me to the bed. "That's a lovely big suitcase, Emily. I bet it's new. We bought new suitcases for the trip, too. Of course, they're piles of ash now. Isn't there a Bible lesson in that, Barbro?"

Guilt smacked me hard in the face. Yes, my suitcase was the size of a big-screen TV. Yes, I'd packed my entire summer wardrobe, including a few fall and winter pieces that I knew would be indispensable should we run into a freak summer blizzard or a flood. But I hadn't packed frivolously! I'd only brought along outfits I was pretty sure I might wear. On the other hand, Britha and Barbro lived in bib jumpers, shells, and elastic-waisted polyester pants. Neither one of them would be comfortable in my new one-shoulder sweaterdress with the leather shoulder strap, or my little stretch denim corset dress with the adjustable bra straps. I wasn't even comfortable in them, but they fit like latex and looked really hot, so I didn't mind that I couldn't breathe while I was wearing them.

I marked the expectant looks on the twins' faces and forced a half smile. There was only one thing to do. "You